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Driving the Mohawk Trail in Massachusetts

View of Shelburne Falls and the Deerfield River.Credit
Stewart Cairns for The New York Times

CLOSE your eyes and think of a great American road. Whatever ribbon of highway is unfurling across your mental windshield, it’s probably not in Massachusetts. But the state that gave America Jack Kerouac also built the Mohawk Trail, a Berkshire Mountains-straddling, automotive-age incarnation of an ancient Native American footpath between the Hudson and Connecticut River valleys.

This isn’t Route 66 (that came later). It’s not I-40, either. The distance between attractions here can be shorter than an Interstate on-ramp. Instead of endless straight miles, think countless, joyful curves, inviting side roads, mountain streams and, in the fall, crimson foliage and bright blue, cider-ready afternoons. For America’s highway-hungry soul, the Mohawk Trail is a slow-food, low-mileage feast.

Construction of the trail, one of America’s earliest scenic roads, began in 1912, a decade before Kerouac was born. When it opened in 1914 the gravel road was just 15 feet across, about the length of a Honda Civic. Paved and widened to more comfortable proportions, the road, a top honeymoon destination in the ’20s, still recalls an era of 20 m.p.h. speed limits, goggles, scarves and lap robes. Signs once advertised “ice cold tonics,” “refreshment for man and motor” and “De Luxe, all-electric” cabins. One historian compared the Trail’s inauguration of easy travel over beautiful, tough terrain to an early flight over the Alps.

The modern trail is part of Route 2, which runs east and west across northern Massachusetts. There are various formal and informal designations of the Mohawk Trail’s endpoints, but the most rewarding miles lie between North Adams, in the northern Berkshires, and Greenfield. That’s about 37 miles.

From the west, in North Adams, the road winds first up the precipitous slopes of the Hoosac Range. Minutes east of downtown North Adams — about four miles, or where your ears begin to pop — you’ll reach the trail’s famous Hairpin Turn. There’s room to park, and a restaurant, the Golden Eagle, and the sublime view over the northern Berkshires that appears in so many vintage Mohawk Trail postcards.

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The Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls.Credit
Stewart Cairns for The New York Times

Farther up and east — just before the sign welcoming you to Florida, the high-altitude town reputed to be the coldest in Massachusetts — is a pull-off in North Adams for trails in the Hoosac Range (413-499-0596; bnrc.net). Choose between two hikes: an hourlong, mile-and-a-half round trip to Sunset Rock, a stone slab well positioned for westward gazes, or a six-mile round trip to Spruce Hill, where hawks and soaring, multistate views of rolling hills await. Both trails form part of the Mahican-Mohawk Trail, a decades-old, partly finished effort to reblaze a modern 100-mile hiking path between the Hudson and Connecticut River valleys.

Your next stop is the Mohawk Trail State Forest in Charlemont (413-339-5504; mass.gov/dcr), where you’ll find the state’s largest surviving patch of old-growth forest of maples, birch, beech and ash. What’s said to be the tallest tree in all of New England — an Eastern white pine that tops out at 171 feet — is here, too, though its exact location is kept secret by cautious naturalists. Easier to find are riverside picnic spots, campsites and a beautiful segment of the original Native American trail. You can swim, too, though no prizes for guessing why it’s called the Cold River.

The Mohawk Trail’s popularity peaked in the 1940s and 1950s; the allure of air travel is blamed for the road’s genteel decline. Today, a different sort of air travel — zip lining — is a big part of the road’s revival. It’s exhilarating and easy; if you’ve never zip lined, imagine riding a chairlift, but downhill. Without the chair.

At Zoar (7 Main Street, Charlemont; 800-532-7483; zoaroutdoor.com), which offers rock climbing, rafting and kayaking adventures in addition to zip lining, your speed on the zip line is literally in your hands: riders grip the line with a heavy-duty glove to slow themselves. At Berkshire East (66 Thunder Mountain Road, Charlemont; 413 339 6617; berkshireeast.com) — in winter, a popular and family-friendly ski area — speed-control is built into the course’s design, a plus for nervous types as well as those who want to focus on foliage.

Both places offer multihour, higher-altitude runs that start at about $85, but Berkshire East also offers a one-hour introductory experience ($30). Its ski-area heritage is apparent in the demeanor of Berkshire East’s coaches, who have the cheerful modesty of ace ski instructors who wouldn’t dream of humiliating you. On a recent visit our enthusiastic coach let slip that she’s studying psychology and nursing, the perfect qualifications, we felt, for encouraging jittery first-timers to step from a windswept platform into thin air.

If you prefer your soaring autumn views on foot, head to the trails at High Ledges in Shelburne (978-464-2712; massaudubon.org), a wildlife sanctuary a dozen or so miles from Berkshire East, in the Patten District neighborhood of Shelburne. Check the map at the sanctuary entrance; the most rewarding path is to follow the outermost trails in a large counterclockwise loop, saving the cool breeze and stunning overlook at the rock ledges for last.

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Davenport Maple Farm.Credit
Stewart Cairns for The New York Times

Two more stops in this neck of the woods. One is Davenport Maple Farm (111 Tower Road, Shelburne; 413-625-2866), which sells some of the best maple syrup I’ve tasted. Park, and “Please toot horn for maple,” as the sign advises.

Nearby is the Little Big House (323 Patten Road, Shelburne; 413-625-6697; littlebighousegallery.com), a brightly colored storybook cottage that’s the hand-built home and studio of the metalworking artist Glenn Ridler. Adults will need a few seconds to work out the optical illusion that the house presents (children seem to grasp it immediately). What at first appears to be a tiny cottage is actually a 34-foot-high, multistory structure. The bright yellow front door, for example, measures 11 feet; the door handle is dinner-plate-size. It’s hard to behold the house, or the fabulous garden designed by Christine Baronas, Mr. Ridler’s wife — expect chrysanthemums this time of year — without a smile. Then there’s the gallery of Mr. Ridler’s minimalist metallic sculptures, most created from nothing more than armature wire.

If Mr. Ridler’s work has left you in an artistic state of mind, it’s time to go to town: lovely Shelburne Falls, a 10-minute drive away. The village’s natural setting (on the Deerfield River, in a bowl of forested mountains) and cultural offerings (numerous galleries, three independent bookstores, a 1906 bowling alley and a nonprofit movie house where live music precedes the show) are New England at its small-town best.

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Shelburne Falls straddles two municipalities — Shelburne and Buckland — separated by the river. Start on the Shelburne side, at the Shelburne Arts Cooperative (26 Bridge Street; 413-625-9324; shelburneartscoop.com). Don’t miss the fabulous pottery by Kris O’Neill, made in nearby Cummington, though the interplay of bright and earth colors on her lovely mugs was inspired by a trip to the Southwest. After the co-op, spare a few hours to wander the independent stores and galleries along Bridge Street and Deerfield Avenue.

When it’s time to cross the river, you have two options. If you cross along the south side of Bridge Street, be sure to look back over your left shoulder at the stain on the riverside brick building. That’s the high-water mark from the Tropical Storm Irene floods that devastated the region a year ago. Or walk north and cross the pedestrian-only Bridge of Flowers, a converted trolley bridge that’s been lovingly tended by members of the Shelburne Falls Women’s Club since 1929. Imagine a more flowery and less affected High Line, with a river underneath, and a guest book.

Once you’re on the Buckland bank, head up to the Salmon Falls Artisans Showroom (1 Ashfield Street; 413-625-9833; salmonfallsgallery.com). As with many local businesses, it’s worth popping in just for the well-framed river views. Nearly a hundred local artists exhibit here. Note the works of Kevin MacDonald, including industrial-chic lamps made from stacked iron plates ($980). The gallery’s international star is the glassworker Josh Simpson, whose intricate glass planetary globes ($60 to $25,000) are partly inspired by the work of his wife, the NASA astronaut Cady Coleman.

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Canoeing on the Deerfield River in Charlemont.Credit
Stewart Cairns for The New York Times

Back down above the riverbank is the charming Nancy L. Dole Books & Ephemera (20 State Street; 413-625-2210; nancydolebooks.com), a recent transplant from the Shelburne side. Here you can watch the river rush past and browse an eclectic selection of used books, artwork and vintage postcards from the Mohawk Trail’s long-forgotten heyday, when driving, and the road, were new.

IF YOU GO

The Mohawk Trail Association (866-743-8127; mohawktrail.com) has information on the road and nearby attractions, including suggested driving tours.

For dining with a view at the Hairpin Turn above North Adams, try the Golden Eagle Restaurant (1935 Mohawk Trail, Clarksburg; 413-663-9834; thegoldeneaglerestaurant.com), open daily in October, noon to 9 p.m.

In Shelburne Falls, head to the West End Pub (16 State Street, Shelburne Falls; 413-625-6216; westendpubinfo.com). Outside, there’s riverside dining overlooking the Bridge of Flowers. For fine dining on the Mohawk Trail, try to get a reservation at Gypsy Apple Bistro (65 Bridge Street, Shelburne Falls; 413-625-6345). A moonlit, after-dinner amble across the bridge to the mid-19th-century home of the Dancing Bear bed-and-breakfast (22 Mechanic Street, Shelburne Falls; 413-625-9281; dancingbearguesthouse.com) is the best reason to stay right in town. Rooms start at $139 in October, including a tasty breakfast, Wi-Fi and unlimited friendly chats with the innkeepers.

Airbnb and various vacation-rental Web sites offer numerous options on the Mohawk Trail. The finest is the 232-year-old, four-bedroom center-hall colonial home of the authors Noy Holland and Sam Michel (vrbo.com/378359) in Heath, just north of Route 2 and minutes from zip lining or skiing at Berkshire East. The house is listed on the National Historic Register. Inside, it’s the epitome of Shaker chic; $220 in foliage season (two-night minimum) including Wi-Fi, firewood and a gift basket of locally sourced treats.

A version of this article appears in print on October 7, 2012, on Page TR8 of the New York edition with the headline: On the Road, Massachusetts Style. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe